At Christmas I meet a kindred spirit – we both have more to look back on than forward to
The family’s new dog took to sitting at my feet and looking up at me, as if to say: We…
ByChristmas
Howard Jacobson’s Diary: Escaping an icy fate in the Highlands, celebrity-spotting in London, and my soft spot for the King
Finding poetic consolation on a quest for snow, solace and Santa.
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Stop moaning about January – it’s the best month
It’s not the month you want, but it’s the one you need.
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The Detectorists Christmas special is playful and exquisitely moving
Like every great Christmas parable, Detectorists sees how the epic and the everyday are intertwined.
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The best new films to watch this Christmas
This year’s festive offerings, from The Silent Twins to Avatar.
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A history of snowfall in the UK
Is the dream of a “white Christmas” over?
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The lessons of King Charles’s first Christmas speech
The King largely avoided politics in the ecumenical message he had been waiting decades to deliver.
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Seven swans not swimming: how bird flu came to Christmas
A family of London swans offer both warning and hope in the face of an overlooked crisis.
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Then Later, His Ghost: a Christmas story by Sarah Hall – Audio Long Reads
Christmas coming, a man and a woman in a lonely long barn expecting a child, a post-apocalyptic landscape, a journey…
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Motherland festive special: A Christmas Carol for the Mumsnet generation
This special edition of Sharon Horgan’s BBC One comedy is perfect in every way, save for the fact that it…
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What Rishi Sunak doesn’t get about strikes
A pledge to ban strikes and thus make pay bargaining harder is a pledge to ensure recruitment and conditions keep…
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Two years on, our trade deal with the EU is a rotten turkey
A poll finds more than three quarters of companies believe the Brexit deal has been unhelpful to their business.
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Why Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is still so relevant
Really, the only things separating Bob Cratchit from the average 2022 Londoner are electricity and the fact he could afford…
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After two years of false starts, I’m working out how to make Christmas my own
Our Chanukah traditions are being passed on to the next generation. But I’m happy to add eggnog, a tree and…
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The psychology of why we celebrate Christmas
Nostalgia, hope and indulgence are key to human existence.
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This is how you don’t celebrate Christmas
As a child, Christmases meant exclusion. Today, I am making my own Yuletide traditions.
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Why brass music has such a special relationship with Christmas
There is something particularly cheering about horns playing festive favourites as the temperature drops.
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Why Love Actually has ruined politics, with Jonn Elledge
A festive round-up of politics in 2022
Am I a bad Jew? A Chanukah reflection
I was raised in a Jewish household, but broke all my grandmother’s rules.
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The best Christmas films of all time
Featuring Muppets, gremlins, elves and an assassin.
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